By the time many patients reach Dr Bhavin Patel’s hospital in Surat, their stories have already followed a familiar pattern.

A blurred eye was ignored for months. A cataract was dismissed as “just old age”. An infection was treated at home until it became too painful, or too advanced, to overlook.

For the retina specialist, these delays are among the hardest parts of his work. Over the years, he has seen patients lose vision to conditions that could have been treated earlier, if only care had reached them in time.

“Patients who didn’t have money would go to government hospitals in Ahmedabad,” Dr Patel says. “They would wait for months. By the time their appointment came, many had already lost their vision.”

That realisation shaped the work he has spent nearly 18 years building: taking eye care closer to Gujarat’s villages before treatable conditions turn into permanent vision loss.

When treatment comes too late

Born into a family of doctors and trained at Sankara Nethralaya, Dr Patel returned to Gujarat in 2008, troubled by how many people were losing vision to conditions that could be treated in time. In Surat, where he began practising, the shortage of retina specialists meant that early intervention was rare. Over the years, he watched patients arrive too late, their conditions having progressed beyond recovery.

India’s National Blindness and Visual Impairment Survey (2015–19) found that nearly 93% of blindness is avoidable, with cataract alone accounting for over two-thirds of cases. Among people aged 50 and above, the prevalence of blindness stands at 1.99%, while a much larger share live with visual impairment.  

In Gujarat, too, rural and tribal regions face a higher risk because of delayed diagnosis, low awareness, and limited access to timely care. “The problem goes beyond treatment,” Dr Patel explains. “It is access, awareness, and timing.” 

Taking eye care closer to the people who need it

Dr Patel realised that waiting for patients to reach hospitals would leave many behind. So, he began building a system that could reach people earlier. 

Starting with his hospital, Swami Vivekananda Netra Mandir in 2008, he gradually expanded into rural outreach, launching eye camps across South Gujarat, including remote villages in Navsari, Bardoli, Vyara, and the interiors of Valsad district.

Dr Patel went on to establish the non-profit Swami Vivekananda Netra Mandir Trust in 2021, through which his team conducts nearly 40 rural camps every month. 

Patients are brought from villages to Surat for treatment and dropped back home after surgery. “They cannot always come to us because access is limited, so we simply go to them,” he says.

At the heart of Dr Patel’s model is a coordinated camp-to-care system that begins in villages and continues through treatment and follow-up. Camps are organised with the help of temple networks where local volunteers........

© The Better India